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Jeremiad Omerta
Jeremiad Omerta (sometimes stylized as Omertà) is one of the primary protagonists. He's first originally shown as a merchant and the leader of a mafia-esque gang of mobsters and thieves working in Esperanza before getting incorporated into the revolution's ranks, thanks to the prompting of his wife, Lunesta. His character color is brown, and he fluctuates between working behind-the-scenes and working on the front lines, depending on whatever situation requires his attention. Etmyology A "jeremiad" is a "long, mournful list of complaints or woes", a sort of lamentation often applied to moralistic texts that chastises society for its inherit wickedness. Jeremiad himself is a very outspoken man, prone to launch into diatribes and rants at the slightest provocation, and usually is the moral head / code of honor of the revolution's antics (or, at the very least, he's louder about it than Salia). This also points out Jeremiad's hypocrisy, given that he often complains and gripes about morals in spite of his mafiosi lifestyle and tendency to steal, sabotage, and blackmail. The word "Jeremiad" is derived from the biblical prophet Jeremiah. In the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah wrote a song of sorrow and grief over Jerusalem's destruction, and some of the many things that Jeremiad takes to heart are death, demise, and destruction. Jeremiah has also been referred to as the weeping prophet, and Jeremiad is easily provoked to tears in spite of his tough persona. One of Jeremiad's codenames, "bullfrog", also has roots traced to the Hoyt Axton song, "Joy to the World", given that the opening lyric is "Jeremiah was a bullfrog". "Omerta" is a Mafia-oriented code of honor and silence about non-cooperation with the authorities in regards to illegal activities. In essence: "don't rat on your kin". This illustrates Jeremiad's genuine sense of community, honor, and respect for other people's secrets in spite of his somewhat-hypocritical stance on morality. It's also worth noting that the word means "manliness", and Jeremiad prides himself upon his masculinity. Jeremiad has more than a few nicknames, arguably more so than almost any other character. Jerry, Jem, Jeremy, and Jez are all utilized at one point or another; Caesar calls him "Jazz" as a corruption of the Jez diminutive, and Jeremiad eventually coins the nickname "Didjeridoo", a corruption of the didgeridoo, an Indigenous Australian wind instrument. His subordinates and compatriots often call him "Dad" or "Boss" due to his tendency to be in leadership positions, and he later on also gets "Jerome" from Flacara, which is both an actual name and a combination of the first two syllables in his first (Jer) and last (Ome) names. Personality One word to describe Jeremiad is "in-your-face". He's a big man with a big name, full of bombast, swagger, boldness, and armed with an assertive personality that gets him as much attention as it does trouble. Jeremiad's take-no-shit attitude makes him an ideal leader; he takes charge, even if he doesn't always have control of the situation, and becomes antsy and easily-bored if he isn't in charge. Jeremiad's leader-centric personality is a double-edged sword: while he certainly has the charisma, people skills, and magnetic personality to lead others, his impulsivity and uneven temper lands him in trouble and clouds his judgment, hence why he actively needs people with cooler personalities and temperaments to reason with him, like Caesar and Lunesta. In fact, he often doesn't really get along with likewise hot-blooded people, often starting fights or making a fuss about them / in front of them. Jeremiad is also a born speaker; where Caesar, for example, is soft-spoken and to-the-point, Jeremiad talks in long, weaving sentences, often embellished with colorful metaphors and crass slang, even sometimes slipping into using phrases or bits of different dialects (almost always Spanish-Caribbean or Italian). It can take Jeremiad a while to get to the point, and he's prone to launching off into tangents (complaining is his forte, to either the amusement or pain of those around him), but he's also incredibly effective at utilizing the spoken word to his advantage, much like Salia. Whatever emotion Jeremiad is attempting to communicate, it will be communicated. Sometimes he stumbles, or slips up due to his temper or a particularly fevered emotional state, but this masterful handling of speech is no doubt a good point in his leaderly and charismatic favor. Jeremiad has a strong sense of honor; he is keen on loyalty and despises rats, snitches, and tattlers. Whenever Jeremiad vows to keep a secret, he absolutely means it, and he attempts to instill this philosophy into his subordinates and followers with varying levels of success. His sense of morality, however, is far grayer and more complicated than his relatively straightforward sense of honor. Being a mafiosi, Jeremiad has become accustomed to thievery, beating / fighting, sabotage, destruction, bribery, blackmail, and all sorts of unseemly things. However, he is still distinctly uncomfortable with killing, assassination, and death as a whole; he insists that killing is a chore, but one that never becomes easy, or one that you can grow numb to. Jeremiad is very easily prompted into fights and duels, and yet will only resort to the deadly avenue if he absolutely has to, or if his own life is on the line. This is why Viola hesitates in even putting Jeremiad on the front-lines to begin with; in spite of all of Jeremiad's experience, he still remains uncomfortable with killing. This likely ties in to his fear of death, of actually being killed - no wonder he took a shine to a doctor, someone that saves lives instead of taking them away. In spite of his confrontational personality, he has more than a few friends, and his interpersonal bonds are very strong. Those that get to know Jeremiad, prickly facade and all, usually end up really liking him; hence the endless slew of affectionate names, especially "Dad" or "Boss" from his subordinates. It helps that Jeremiad wholeheartedly cares about almost everything, no matter how snappy or frustrated he can get; he cares about his loved ones, cares about their well-being, cares about what goes on in their life. He also isn't afraid to show that he cares, tough-guy persona and all. Jeremiad was cast down from the Phoenician religion after the ministry caught wind of his criminal practices, and thus doesn't practice it anymore (neither does Lunesta, being that she is of Separatist descent). His interests include money, guns, organized crime, cooking / food, sports, vehicle / weapon restoration, swimming, martial arts, poker, and barhopping. Trivia * Jeremiad shares a birthday with Robert de Niro, a popular Italian-American actor that starred in a number of Mafia / gangster-inspired films like Goodfellas, The Godfather Part II, and The Untouchables, which fits his general personality.